Apple's iBooks Store Does It Again!

I’m delighted to announce that four of my free series-starter books, The Queen's Blade, Children of Another God – The Broken World, Demon Lord, and Queen of Arlin – The Cyber Chronicles, are featured on the 'First in a Series: Free' feature that the Australian/New Zealand iBooks Store launched this morning. I love Apple! The iBooks Store is constantly coming up with new ways to promote indie authors. It’s such a rush for a relatively unknown indie author like me to see my books touted at a huge worldwide retailer like Apple.

It’s the type of publicity all new, unknown and up and coming authors need to gain a foothold in this tough and competitive market, and I encourage new authors to choose Apple as one of their targeted retailers. It’s the best decision you'll make when it comes to marketing your books! Apple gives credit where it’s due, and for readers, that means it’s one of the best places to find exciting books by new and original authors who break the mould with their writing and therefore don’t fit into a niche mainstream publishers are prepared to publish. Here's the link, if you want to check it out: http://bit.ly/1hlzFRW

Free Book Binge Week – FREE BOOKS!

Today, I’m pleased to bring you 10 permanently free science fiction and fantasy books. Don’t forget to leave the author a review on his/her download page if you enjoy the read!

In his search for the origin of the human race, Liam MacAskill travels to another planet and comes face to face with the Devil himself. He’s driven to claim sanctuary from the monks and nuns at Tridor Monastery, where another stranger to the land lies in a coma.

Download this fantasy novel from Smashwords.

A man scarred by bad deeds answers the call of a heroic cause. An unconventional heroine will tug at your sympathies as she bravely faces adversity with all the strengths and vulnerabilities of her womanhood. And overarching it all are the rys. Their magic makes them superior to humans, but they are not above employing humans in their deadly schemes. Union of Renegades begins the love story between Dreibrand, an ambitious military officer, and Miranda, an escaped slave. They'll become a power couple that rules a vast kingdom, but only after grim struggle and terrible sacrifice.

Download this fantasy novel from the author’s website.

 

Clinging to the bar running along the front of the platform, Sergeant Osric has a lot of time to think about how he got there. About how he’s shooting through a forest on a rocket powered train platform. About how a grinning thief is clinging to the same bar beside him. Most of all, though, about how he’s heading for Bytarend; a town no-one has heard from in almost a hundred years. There has to be a reasonable explanation for their silence, after all. Osric tries to think of a reason that doesn’t end in his horrible death…

…he can’t come up with one.

Download this fantasy novel from Smashwords.

Dark twist on faeries. For Shade, a chance meeting with a powerful Teleen Faery warrior who wields electrical currents and blue fires along his skin, has her joining him on a treacherous mission for the good Seelie Faerie Court across the land of Faerie. Magic and malice abound and nothing is what it really seems to be.

Download this free fantasy novel from Amazon.

Michael is just an ordinary, average, normal, everyday middle schooler in the perfect town of Lincolnshire, a town that happens to have more superheroes per square mile than anywhere else on the planet. What could possibly go wrong, surrounded by so many people who could destroy the town with a snap of their fingers?

Download this free YA fantasy novel from Smashwords.

With so many humans focussed on snakes on July 16 each year, World Snake Day, the snake god Calebius gains more power. Power that builds over the years until one day, 16 July 2013, he’s finally powerful enough to free himself of the curse that, millennia ago, rendered him incapable of achieving physical form. Now, he seeks revenge on those who trapped him, but they are long dead, so their descendents will have to do… Only one person can quell his thirst for blood, but can Lily learn to trust her heart in time to save the human race?

Download this fantasy romance short story from Smashwords.

...Love and other man-made disasters... A woman looking for a new life gets trapped in a commuter tube, and manages to find love and herself in the aftermath of the disaster.

Download this sci-fi romance short story from the author’s website.

Victor Mansfield, king of Dalmar, has infiltrated the occupied castle of Argonna in order to free the Queen of Argonna, Fiora Durassil, from imprisonment by the D'rolock Empire. At first everything goes according to plan, but soon his plan begins to unravel in this thrilling story by Timothy Wilson.

Download this free fantasy ebook from Smashwords.

This is the epic tale of Kirin of House Dar’Shiel, the elfish daughter of an exiled priestess who must travel to the elfish high city to serve the goddess Alorana. Upon her journey she must learn what it is to be a Namari. This goddess-given gift of foresight makes her an invaluable commodity in a war between two elfin goddesses, one of whom will have her death, or her service. Her path crosses that of an injured harpy, a creature thought to exist only in myth, who is upon a quest save her tribe from extinction. Together, they must find a way to thwart a dark goddess and save their homeland from destruction.

Download this fantasy novel from Smashwords.

The Clements Academy was established, somewhere around the year 2045, to train the best and brightest orphans from around the world into the perfect agents. Weapons training, martial arts training, and small unit tactics are just a taste of the curriculum for Clements students. Mark Eblin is one graduate who's never been amazing...and now he's been had.

Download this free science fiction short story from Smashwords.

If these free books whet your appetite for more, visit the other participating blogs below:

Her Ladyship’s Quest

Fireblade Publishers

Lauren Scharhag’s blog

Aneza Lee’s blog

Alexia Purdy’s blog

Richard Foland’s blog

Toni Plaisir’s blog

Free Book Binge Week

What could be better for all of us than a free book bonanza week? Readers get more fantasy and sci-fi books to read and authors find more people who enjoy their books. It’s a win-win for everyone! No one’s going to stop reading his or her favourite author’s books just because they find a great new author, and no author can write books fast enough to keep up with the demand! Therefore, I propose a Free Book Binge Week where everyone can binge on science fiction and fantasy freebies.

So, fellow sci-fi or fantasy authors, I’m looking for seven volunteers to host the Free Book Binge Week, and 490 free books. Each host commits to sharing 10 books on his/her blog each day of the week from Monday 2 September to Sunday 8 September.

If you’d like to be a part of this and be a host for the week, please contact me on scififantasy_author@yahoo.co.za and I’ll send you the books to add to your blog for each day. First come, first serve. As a host, you may also have your free books showcased, of course!

If you’d like your permanently free science fiction or fantasy book showcased, please email me the following:

* A thumbnail of your book cover – with a height of 300 pixels

* A one-paragraph book blurb

* Your preferred download link (just one, please)

First come, first serve, so don’t delay if you’d like a free showcase! For all of you looking for great new books to read, and who are keen to discover fabulous new authors, watch this space!

New Promotion On Apple iBookstore

More fantastic news! Apple Australia and New Zealand iBookstores have done it again. I love Apple! It is presently featuring three of my free series-starter books in a campaign for free bestsellers and series starters, and the titles are The Queen’s Blade, The Broken World Book One: Children of Another God, and The Cyber Chronicles Book One: Queen of Arlin. They could even be featured in both segments.

The campaign started two days ago, and was advertised today in a huge email blast by Apple to all of its customers in Australia and New Zealand. The promotion will probably continue through June 11. I’m over the moon! Australia is Apple's second largest store after the US! Thank you, Apple iBookstore, for promoting the books to such an extent – far beyond my wildest hopes and dreams!

Also, thank you so much to Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords.com, for recommending my books to Apple for its promotions, and to all my fans who gave them great reviews and wonderful comments! You made this happen. Apple iBookstore is, in my humble opinion, the greatest promoter of indie authors in the world, along with Smashwords.com, and its help in spreading the word about indie books is greatly appreciated! The free books can be downloaded on the following links:

The Queen’s Blade is Apple Australia’s Book of the Week

I’m delighted to announce that The Queen’s Blade has been chosen as Apple Australia’s Book of the Week from March 21^st to March 29^th! The book is available as a free download on the site’s iBookstore page. Words cannot express how grateful I am to all my fans who wrote fantastic reviews, which are responsible for making this series so popular.

 

Its success, and the wonderful comments it has received, still have me reeling in amazement and joy. It’s hard for me to believe; I honestly never expect this level of success. Thank you so much for making all my dreams come true! Thank you to Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, for recommending the book and to Apple Australia for choosing it. With this promotion, it is quite possible the first book of the series will become one of the most downloaded free e-books in the world.

I hope everyone who downloads The Queen’s Blade at Apple’s iBookstore enjoys it and, if they do, that they also enjoy the other five books in the series, and the two prequels, as much as, if not more than, the first free book. I look forward to receiving many more lovely emails like the ones I already have from fans around the world. I love the emails, guys, and I always reply, so keep them coming!

Free Series Starter Books

Like a lot of indie authors, I use the 'first book free' marketing strategy. They are all the first books in a series, however, so please, if you’re only looking for free e-books, don’t download mine that are free. I really don't want to disappoint people. Recently a reader emailed me to tell me how angry and frustrated she was after reading The Queen’s Blade, only to be unable to continue the series because she couldn’t afford the rest of the books. This made me feel really awful. I’m not trying to trick people. It clearly states on the books that they're the first of a series, and now I have added a disclaimer, stating that the rest of the series is not free.

I see the free books as a 'try before you buy' marketing strategy, so people don't buy books they may not enjoy and then feel cheated. Then I'm sure I'd have got plenty of emails from people complaining that they paid for a rubbish book. If you enjoy the first books, chances are, you'll enjoy the rest of the series. It's not intended to be sneaky or unsavoury; it's a way to boost my readership so I can make the books I do sell reasonably priced.

Without the backing of a publisher and the publicity it would provide, I must try to market the books myself. There would have been no point in publishing 31 books for free, from my point of view. I would be throwing away 20 years of writing, years of editing and weeks of cover design and creation, and had I charged for the first books, my sales would have been abysmal as an unknown indie author. I always recommend to up and coming indie authors who ask for advice to make their first books free to get their name 'out there' if they want to be successful. Many, who had been struggling for years making next to no sales suddenly found their sales skyrocketing once people had a chance to read their work and realised it was good. Then readers were happy to pay for more.

Many retailers encourage authors to make the first few pages or chapters of a book free as a sample, which amounts to the same thing; if you enjoy it, you'll want to keep reading. It's also like a movie trailer, which gets you all excited by how great the film looks, but you have to go to a cinema to watch it. Even a book's blurb and cover are intended to entice people to buy it. Look at it as you’re getting a free e-book, and if you enjoy it, the rest of the series is easily available and reasonably priced, too. The free e-books are: The Queen’s Blade, Demon Lord, The Cyber Chronicles - Queen of Arlin, The Broken World – Children of Another God, and Slave Empire – Prophecy. All of them are available on Smashwords.com.